Time really seems to fly. It’s the weekend again already and we don’t know where the time has gone. The weekend again brings the task of looking at the comments left on our Patient Satisfaction Survey and the Friends and Family Test. Today, we will start sharing what was left on our Friends and Family Test first.
How likely are you to recommend our GP practice to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment?
Extremely Unlikely
Can you tell us why you gave that response?
Nobody seems to communicate with each other, core team sent me to my GP to prescribe and the GP said no the core team must do it or instruct?
Do you think the practice has improved in the last 12 months?
Unsure
What are we doing particularly well?
Unsure
What do you feel we can improve on and how?
Communication with the mental health team at Lundwood
When a specialist would like the GP to prescribe something to a patient, we really on the specialist sending this request to us. Only once the request is received (and it is something the GP can and feels is within his/her competence to prescribe and safe to prescribe with other medication the patient may be on), can the GP start prescribing this. A simple request from a patient to prescribe X because the specialist told them this was required is insufficient. Unfortunately, depending on the workload the specialist and his/her admin team has, it can often take a few weeks before the letter from the specialist arrives. There is very little we can do to alter that. At the moment, we still receive letters from clinics that took place in November only now. The NHS as a whole is overstretched, not only primary care. We apologise to this patient for the delay they experienced. This is unfortunately not completely within our control.
How likely are you to recommend our GP practice to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment?
Extremely likely
Can you tell us why you gave that response?
Caring polite staff. Always try and get you an appointment in an appropriate time.
How likely are you to recommend our GP practice to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment?
Extremely likely
How likely are you to recommend our GP practice to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment?
Extremely likely
Can you tell us why you gave that response?
TJ made Tayler-Rayne feel extremely comfortable
Do you think the practice has improved in the last 12 months?
Yes
What are we doing particularly well?
Making people feel comfortable appointment system is much better
What do you feel we can improve on and how?
Maybe not have the receptionist ask personal questions
We’re pleased to hear the patient was satisfied with our services. The receptionists are asking these questions at the request of the doctors. Having these details available helps the receptionists direct the patient to the most appropriate service or person. It also helps the clinician perform the assessment of need in the best and fastest way possible. The clinicians need to perform well over 100 of these every day, which is a difficult and time-consuming task in itself.
How likely are you to recommend our GP practice to friends and family if they needed similar care or treatment?
Likely
Can you tell us why you gave that response?
Great service and helpful staff and clinicians but the wait time telephone answering is silly. Constant engaged tone fir up to an hour
Do you think the practice has improved in the last 12 months?
Unknown
What are we doing particularly well?
Everything from the point of answering the phone
What do you feel we can improve on and how?
Reduce caller wait times
The phone problem is cropping up again. We are extremely aware of this issue and are in the process of getting a new system in place that will hopefully be more user-friendly for both our patients and the practice. We were hoping to have this system in place by April but received some disappointing news last week. As so many practices around the country will be upgrading to a better system, those practices that still have a fully analogue system will be upgraded first and the deadline for all others (us included) will be to have the system in place by June. We hope it will be in place as soon as possible as we are as fed up with our phone lines as our patients are.
And now we’ll take a look at the comments on our Patient Satisfaction Survey.
The docter who I saw was very nice and helpful
I would like to say l am very pleased with the new way the appointment system worked for me. Such an improvement from having to ring dozens of times hoping to be answered and then being told all the appointments have gone. SUCH a better system !
I failed to understand your queuing system.
I was was number 3 in queue, then I went to number 4 after 5 minutes, instead of going down, it went up?
We are as baffled as the patient was. No idea how that could have happened and it doesn’t seem likely the patient would have misheard as those numbers sound nothing like each other.
I was in to have my bloods taken, saw Gemma before my appointment time and she very caring. Had bloods done and blood pressure check.
I was extremely satisfied with my visit to the doctor.
My only gripe was that I was kept waiting a long time to book in with the receptionist as no one was there.
We are sorry to hear this. This will only happen if it is before opening time, or when the receptionist has been called elsewhere for an urgent matter. Rarely, in Cudworth only, it will happen when a receptionist needs to cover reception the entire day on her own due to the sickness absence of a colleague. In that case, there will be a sign on the shutters to inform the patient the reception is closed for half an hour (in a 10.5-hour day) to have a well-deserved lunch break.
Very pleased with the service I received thanks
Care after obtaining appointment was faultless. Problem was 89 phone calls to obtain the appointment
I have learned that routine bloods are now to be taken in Barnsley City centre. Although a slight inconvenience for me, I feel for the elderly, infirm, unwell and parents with small children for whom this could mean a difficult or impossible trek. I feel some will forgo treatment because of the unreasonable location.
Why can’t we have local services for local people? If this is not a local decision, please feel free to pass on.
The story is slightly different from how this patient has understood it.
Where the request for blood tests comes from the hospital, yes, we will ask the patient to attend the Glassworks in town instead. We don’t receive funding for this work, and it reduces our capacity to perform tests and reviews of patients that can only take place at the practice. We need to use our capacity in the best way we can and we will therefore only do hospital bloods if the patient also needs tests for reviews at the surgery at the time (after all, who wants to have 2 needles when one suffices?)
If it is only blood tests that are needed but no further reviews, we will also often direct our patients to the Glassworks and this is going to be even more likely in the coming months. One of our nursing associates will be mostly missing from the practice for 18 months while she completes her training to become a registered nurse. This will bring a reduction in nursing team appointments and we will need to use the available appointments wisely.
I was given advice by text saying i had take covid lateral test . I informed them i had no test available but symptoms were just runny nose and could i still do appointment they responded yes if wear mask . So i did . But when got there reception were told i had to make another appointment so i wasted my time going . Since then had lateral test today and it came back negative anyway
I believe I will need to apologise for this mix-up. It was likely myself who advised the patient could attend if wearing a mask. I’m unsure who informed the patient they then couldn’t attend and will need to check this with our team. My sincere apologies for the patient’s wasted journey.
Very nice nurse had blood tests didn’t feel a thing was very kind and understanding
I came to see a female practitioner, Jackie, she was like a breath of fresh air and exactly what I needed a caring lady that listened to me, understood and I came away feeling more positive and a follow up appointment to be booked in three weeks time.
A good experience when visiting the practice on this one occasion. Very pleased with the Doctor seen and could recommend.
Thank you once more to all the patients who continue to fill in our questionnaires. At the request of our nursing team, we have also added some surveys specific to them to help them with their appraisals, revalidation, and their personal development plan.
We are pleased to see that most patients are satisfied with the services we provide. Sometimes we don’t get it right, and we are keen to learn in the hope this can then be avoided in the future. Other times the expectations a patient has may be unrealistic through no fault of their own. We are very appreciative of all the patients taking the time to leave comments. Only when we know where improvements are needed can we hope to put those improvements in place. We are keeping our fingers crossed that our phone system will be updated in April and that we don’t need to wait until the end of June. Our patients and the practice need this new system as soon as possible.
